1. Technical Field
The present invention embodiments pertain to icon overlays. In particular, the present invention embodiments pertain to dynamically generating icon overlays for a file icon based on attributes associated with an end user of the file.
2. Discussion of Related Art
Icon overlays are small graphics superimposed over a file's primary icon. An icon overlay provides a visual cue that can convey additional file attributes. For example, one conventional icon overlay utilizes a ‘shortcut’ icon overlay (rendered as an arrow) to indicate that the file is actually a shortcut (i.e., a link to another file). Other conventional icon overlays designate the state of a file which has been obtained from a central file repository. For example, an icon overlay including an orange caution sign is used to denote that a file has been modified, an icon overlay including a green check is used to denote that a file is unmodified, an icon overlay including a blue plus sign (‘+’) is used to denote that a file has been added, and an icon overlay including a red ‘X’ is used to denote that a file has been deleted.
The algorithms used to select conventional icon overlays have traditionally been limited to simple properties of the file (e.g., linked, shared, modified, etc), which provides adequate functionality to indicate a property or a state of a file to a user. Consequently, conventional icon overlays rendered for a particular file appear identical no matter which user is viewing the overlays.